Supporting the New Workforce: An Interview With Joe O'Neil

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

IPC Community celebrates member success while sharing the important work done within IPC to better serve its members and the entire global electronics manufacturing community. But who will take us into the future? How do we prepare the next generation of industry professionals for the needs of today’s consumer, industrial, and defense bases? Joe O’Neil, chair of the IPC Education Foundation Board, shares his vision for developing that pipeline of new talent entering the electronics industry. 

Joe, what are the top three concerns facing the electronics industry?

Risk mitigation in the global supply chain seems to be top of mind. The benefits of globalization were tested by the pandemic and further impacted by geopolitical challenges. Now, regionalization seems to be a focus for electronics manufacturing.

Domestically, the strength and resilience of the electronics industrial base is a major concern. The CHIPS Act and other efforts to accelerate domestic manufacturing capabilities and capacities, coupled with some reshoring and regionalization, may be the needed catalyst to reestablish a solid foundation across the entire value stream.

I’m also concerned about access to the talent pool from region to region. In some areas, there is an emerging demand for engineering and technician-level operators; reskilling, upskilling, and training are needed to bring those from other industries into the electronics sector. In Silicon Valley, there are thousands of highly skilled operators at every level, and the level of competition for that talent is incredible. Attracting, retaining, and developing career paths are major concerns.

Industry executives often say workforce development is a major concern. What do they mean and why is it a problem?

In the short term, there is a supply-and-demand gap. There are more jobs than qualified candidates to fill the roles. This limits growth, hurts profitability (more overtime), and cuts into capital available for investment, and research and development.

While many challenges in the near term can be overcome, and impacts to the bottom line are manageable, they become untenable over the long term. If software, crypto, social media, and finance sectors are attracting the best and the brightest, then our industry will continue being both understaffed and under-talented. Yet this is a dynamic, fast-paced, challenging sector, and we need to attract the best and the brightest talent as well. We must showcase our exciting career options—advanced artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation-driven opportunities—which are transforming our industry at this very moment.

How is IPCEF addressing this issue? How do we develop a pipeline of new talent?

We are addressing the workforce development challenge in the electronics manufacturing industry by focusing on three pillars: awareness, access, and connection. 

To increase awareness of the opportunities within the industry, the Foundation engages with schools, colleges, and universities to showcase career opportunities and highlight the importance of the industry. They also participate in industry events and conferences to reach a wider audience.

To read this entire article, which appeared in the summer 2023 issue of IPC Community, click here.